They are stored in the index.dat file under history\history.IE5 (which is a hidden directory and the file itself is hidden).
You can manually delete it (under Xp/2K) or under DOS for 9X/ME to get rid of URLs.
This site http://www.purgeie.com gives some good information about IE's cache and history structure.

C.H.-This is from Ronnie Ratt who is a very knowledgeable poster on Computing.net.

"G'day Joe, if it's any help, this is where they are kept in the Registry
Hkey_Local_Machine
+ Software
.+ Microsoft
..+ Protected Storage System
...+ 'Username'
....+ Data
.....+ e161255a-37c3-11d2-bcaa-00c04fd929db
......+ e161255a-37c3-11d2-bcaa-00c04fd929db

Anything under this last subkey can be removed. You might want to back this up if there is anything you don't want to remove or you will have to start again to save anything that was Auto-Completed, but if you cleared the forms then it won't matter.

It's all encrypted so don't bother trying to find any individual entries to remove. Logins and Passwords are kept here as well and also here:

Actually, I'm not sure about what Castleheart is asking.
If it's the URLs which come up when you are in the address bar, then it's in the index.Dat file I've mentionned.
If it's in a field on a web page (google search field, for instance), then it's crypted as Deke said.

The history is stored in several index.dat files, one for each day/week/month, they are deleted by IE each week/month. But there is another index.dat under \history\history.ie5

This one is used to store 'Visited' URL names, date and time stamps. This is the data used by I.E. for its AutoComplete function and controlling the highlighting of embedded links on the displayed Web pages.

Sorry for the delay but I have been having trouble with TSG pages this AM. Now it isn't even AM no mo!

Derek and BS..... thanks for the links. Crazytrain was interesting and I will have to go back and read it more later.

I am also going to compare purgeie and MRUblaster .

To clarify again - I am talking about AutoFill the address bar and not the drop down history list.

DEKE.... I followed Ratt Boys registry lead to no avail. I had 4 entries listed there and they weren't associated with my address bar. They were useless though and I deleted them. I did not do the Hkey_current_user because as I read it - it was about passwords and such

Of course, there are a lot of "HISTORYs" stored on my PC. Most are understandable - profiles and such.

I have two others that seem contradictory.
One is simply under WINDOWS and contains and Index file. It also contains yet another HISTORY folder which itelf has and Index file
The other is under WINDOWS\TEMP
Neither of this is part of the Auto fill as I can see... but I am not sure of the difference in them or their uses.

PGWhen you say "\history\history.ie5
where does that tree begin? I was guessing C:\WINDOWS\HISTORY\HISTORY.IE\index.dat

Well W98 won't display that path and DOS shows a "." and ".." directory beneath HISTORY but doesn't take me further.

So where it stands now is:
I temporarily renamed the two most obvious Index.dat files but that made no change.
I removed the last entries under Hkey_local like suggested to no avail.

If there is a way to find and delete the index.dat beneath historyie5 in DOS you'll have to clue me in.

I haven't had time to thoroughly read the links yet so if you know one of them has the cure let me know and I will give it a good read later.

Retired Moderator Retired Malware Specialist

The way I have cleared mine is to untick autocomplete/web addresses/press clear forms, then empty temp internet files & cookies then clear history, then ran mru blaster, then re-enabled the auto complete

apparantly the web history drop downs and autocomplete entries stay when you clear history unless you untick the autocomplete entry first

Whoa..... that will take so much time, I'll have to go home and shave again before I am through!

Well, I will try that process, Derek ol' boy. Frankly I need to think about whether I even make use of auto complete anyway. I know I haven't as of late because it has had so many suggestions that you practically have the whole address entered by the time you get to the one you want.

I happen to be one of those persons who uses History a good bit and I hate to hit that delete button. I usually set the days up for about a week or so and let them fall off the end as they may. I figure if they're older than that I have forgotten about them already.

Well, as I have already mentionned, the folder History and the index.dat are hidden.
The file is not visible with standard MS tools, you have to use Winfile (the old Win3.1 file manager) to access it. Start -> Run -> Winfile

Don't forget to check the box "Show Hidden/System Files" in the Menu View -> "By File Type". You could also use Total Commander, the best file manager (IMO) which doesn't handle the desktop.ini files, responsible for the "invisibility" of the index.dat files. Download Total Commander here : http://www.ghisler.com

The following command run in a DOS box will show you where your index.dat's are located :
attrib c:\index.dat /S

You will then see where your index.dat files are located. Delete all the index.dat files under a history.IE5 folder (you could have more than one). Reboot in DOS and go to the directory where the index.dat are located and type deltree history. If it doesn't work, you can
get rid of the index.dat without messing with DOS, just rename (in Explorer) the folder <base>\History to whatever, reboot and then, IE will recreate another <base>\History folder.

I did some more research and found this in a November 2000 posting :There are 2 ways that address may remain to be seen by others.
1) If you hit the drop down arrow, and see a bunch of addresses that you want to get rid of, these can be deleted by clearing the history in Internet Explorer:

Go to "Tools" then "Internet Options" then use the "Clear History" Button or just to clear the dropdown list in the searchbar to to Start/Settings/Taskbar & Start Menu/Start Menu Programs/click Clear.

2) The second way that an old address will come back to haunt you:
If you start to type, and the address of a site that you have visited before, appears in the address bar(this happens if you have Autocomplet on), then the site is stored in your favorites folder, and needs to be deleted from there.

If you don't want anyone to see where you've been surfing, clear the history, and don't store these pages in your favorites, because even if you give them a different name in favorites, the real url will appear on your address bar when you type the first few letters of it.

END OF QUOTE

I probably did an overkill but I exported my favorites and cookies then deleted both and went into DOS and did a deltree of index.dat, history, and cookies. The only urls that came up when I start typing were two shortcuts I had on my desktop and shortcuts on my taskbar. The only problem is when you put your favorites back,the urls come back. At least you now know how to be rid of the little devils for as long as you can get by without your favorites.

My head-stuffings are fried for today but I will try some of this mañana. And PG I started some of the DOS work and will play with it some. Strange...that one! My initial playing around with DOS didn't seem to cure the ills but I was getting impatient and didn't want to see my computer reboot one more time today! Then it refused me access to delete an index.dat so I got bummed and quit for the day.

Deke, I don't care about what's in the drop down list. It is the auto complete that I am trying to kill. But your tip on going to the start menu to kill those was a good one that I wasn't aware of. It lets you kill the drop down history list and yet retain the actual history in your folder. Quite handy! What I need is a simple button like that to kill the Acomplete list!

And my auto completes are not in my favorites - though my favorites may be in my auto completes.

So anyway, tomorrow I will play with all this and see if there isn't a fairly straightforward way out of all of this. The fact is, after searching for a month or two - my list will fill up and I will need to do it again so I need an easy way - or just stop using AutoComplete. It is useless to me now with so many entries!

I check back with my "success"?

- Castleheart

Deke... I may have already told you this - but I'm from Tyler, Texas. Where B you, if I might ask?